There is little argument that Toyota Motor Corporation builds some of the highest quality automobiles at the lowest total cost. Year in and year out we see Toyota at the top of the lists, or, having more automobiles in the “top 10” than any other automobile manufacturer. The advertisement for the Lexus is…”In pursuit of Excellence”!

So what is the secret, or is there one? What does Toyota do that others don’t, or don’t do as well as Toyota? And, does the Toyota approach apply to other products and services? (YES!) The use of Kaizen/continuous improvement can be adapted to any focused improvement work or effort (in manufacturing, service, advertising, IT, education, government, etc.).

Let’s take a look at the Toyota Production System, where the building of automobiles you might say, is “where the rubber meets the road”. Here are the key elements/underpinnings (my top 10) of the Toyota Production System (TPS):

• *Build quality in, and if you can’t (the operators) STOP the line. Quality always wears the BIG HAT in cross-functional activities/solutions.
• *Utilize kanban (pull systems/inventory replenishment system) to have material delivered Just-In-Time; and, have all supplier capabilities in place to drive this as needed replenishment system.
• *Level production. To support the total system, stabilize quality, and provide production ‘harmony’, production is smoothed and peaks and valleys are avoided.
• *Reduce set up and preparation times. TPS engages all works to make ‘changes’ faster, easier, and less disruptive to the production flow.
• *Create a production factory based on standardized work. Here the focus is on using the minimum number of workers, to attain high productivity.
• *Continually improve layouts of production areas to improve the speed and quality of material flow.
• *Engage all employees (team members) to solicit ideas and improvement opportunities to management.
• *Develop strong and effective relationships with employee organizations (unions).
• *Develop strong and effective relationships with suppliers, and, HELP suppliers to reduce costs and improve quality.
• *KAIZEN is the main approach to improvement.

TPS is a very sophisticated, integrated system, created by Mr. Taiichi Ohno , former Vice President of Toyota Motor Co. The system originally developed in the late 50’s, really came to life in the 70’s as Mr. Ohno spread the system throughout Toyota. TPS was and is a dynamic, improving system that views continuous improvement as the backbone of its success. The major tool/process that drives this constant improvement is kaizen.

“Kaizen means continuing improvement involving everyone-managers, and workers alike”

Kaizen, Masaaki Imai

Can you imagine if everyone in an organization recognized the importance of kaizen? Can you imagine if everyone in an organization was trained in kaizen, worked on it, and felt safe that improvement work did not jeopardize their job, but actually protected and helped insure it?!

TPS does just that! One of the main focus areas for kaizen work is waste— identification, reduction and elimination. This focus (attacking 7 forms of WASTE) allows workers to go after an evil…WASTE! (muda). Here are the 7 forms of WASTE that Toyota attacks:

1. Overproduction  

The natural tendency is to produce as much as you can, since this is seen as efficient. If everything is running well, why not keep producing? Produce more, in a short time—whether you need it or not. NO!

2. Waste time spent on machines/equipment

Downtime is very costly. Using preventative or predictive maintenance has the machines/equipment available when needed. Do you need to keep the equipment/machines running if no production is needed. NO!

3. Waste involved in the transportation of units

If the units are not ‘in’ the production process (warehousing, loading/unloading/inspecting) do you need to continuously move the units, again, and again? NO!

4. Waste in Processing

The actual ‘build process’ has certain defined, value added steps. Are all process steps actually adding something to the creation of the finished product? Are all of these steps, needed. NO!

5. Waste in Taking inventory

Inventories require counting. Why do you need such inventories? If you know the production plan, and the requirements for that production plan, do you really need such a huge safety stock? Just in case? NO!

6. Waste of Motion

To get the job done, activity is required. Is this activity (walking/standing/shifting/carrying/waiting) really the best use of a team member’s time?  Sometimes yes, Sometimes, NO!

7. Waste in the form of defective units 

Scrap and rework generate a lot of wasted…time, energy, material, special motion (handling) and labor.  Would or should a customer pay for all this non value added activity? NO!

At Toyota, the use of kaizen to eliminate waste went way beyond just the shop floor. Since everyone was trained and involved, the same 7 waste elements were attacked in engineering, IT, HR, quality…all functional areas. The idea that ‘if it isn’t broke, don’t mess with it’, just doesn’t make sense in TPS. They do promote, “if it isn’t broke, improve it”!

The use of improvement tools, such as lean, Six Sigma, JDIT, quality circles, and kaizen do focus on improving the work place or work environment. These tools do and will work in just about any size of organization, group or business.

“Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Involve me and I understand”  (Author Unknown)

Kaizen is not only an effective /proven tool that can be adapted to your needs, but it also has the advantage of engaging everyone in going after that culprit…waste.

“Continuous Improvement Beats Postponed Perfection!”

Russell J Bunio

Mr. Bunio spent 4 years at the New United Motor Inc. , JV (GM/Toyota) in Fremont , Ca. as the GM Materials Leader for North American Operations. His supervisor, H. Uchikawa, was one of the founders and developers of TPS.

Mr. Bunio is the author of The Graduate Handbook – You Don’t Know What   You Don’t Know”. www.thegraduatehandbook1.com